A Quick Word on US Airways Trial Preferred

You might remember my blogging about my own experiences with US Trial Preferred membership as well as those of my good friend from North Carolina. I get lots of questions about the program, and the number one question I receive is “If I buy Silver, but fly enough to earn Gold or Platinum, will they give me that status?” There’s plenty of evidence on the message boards that the answer to that question is yes. Now I have some real evidence as my friend wrote me this morning just to say “Gold Preferred.” He hit the qualifying miles late last week, and his new status posted overnight.

I believe this isn’t just a fluke, but is the way they want the program to work. It can make sense to buy the Trial Gold program if you have a lot of international travel coming up just for the Star Gold status alone. But if you are looking at just domestic flights, and know you’ll fly enough to hit the higher status levels, suck it up as a Silver for a bit and earn your advanced status by flying (and save a couple hundred bucks too). Hey, maybe it will make you appreciate that higher status just a little more.

Marshall Jackson is an aviation enthusiast and avid cruiser. After 10 years in the airline business, Marshall moved on to a new career that includes plenty of travel and plenty of cruises, and that’s just the way he likes it.

Nice, I guess. ANd I’m delighted that it worked out OK for your friend. A good thing is always nice. Sadly, I won’t be trying anything from US Airways. Thought many years of experince, I’ve just had far too many unpleasant experiences with them – with ‘status’ and without, that I no longer use them. Period. My long history of issues with US Air has never had anything to do with weather or facility problems, issues beyoind their control – and it was always about Customer No-Service – reservation, at the airport or on-board. In short, they just don’t get… Read more »

Wow, I’m surprised there’s still question over this. It’s worked that way for years. In fact, when the crack IT systems work, the trial member will receive email updates informing how close he/she is to the next status tier.

Combine this with the fact the website shows the mileage required to reach Chairman’s Preferred (which you cannot pay to start out at in a trial) and I assumed everyone could see you were allowed to exceed your trial start point.